


The Thing That Loomed in the Darkness

by Troutwaxer



Category: Cthulhu Mythos - Fandom, Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft, Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), LOVECRAFT H. P. - Works
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Other, Ritual Sex, Sex Magic, Tentacle Monsters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:48:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25212667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Troutwaxer/pseuds/Troutwaxer
Summary: Much has been written about the terrible fates of those who investigate the Cthulhu Mythos too deeply, but what of those who were born already enmeshed in the dark cults of the Outer Gods? What of their lives and fates as they are led from insanity to other, deeper forms of madness, eventually gaining personal experience with all the terrors of the cosmos, from too-intimate knowledge of the tentacled horrors which lurk in the woods to terrible encounters with the infinitely cruel nature of the uncaring multiverse.This is the story of how Tnnn'gk, a young woman born into the cult of Shub-Niggurath, undergoes her initiation, discovers the true nature of things, and goes mad - or does she? For perhaps there are more things in the Multiverse than were dreamed of in H. P. Lovecraft's ever-so-Victorian understanding of the cosmos...Contains graphic sex involving humans, non-consensual behavior between the ultimate forces of the omniverse, and a difficult vision of the cold, uncaring nature of the cosmos.
Relationships: Dark Young/Human
Kudos: 18





	The Thing That Loomed in the Darkness

Tnnng’gk was naked, her legs propped on pillows, and just beginning to masturbate when they came for her. The zombie, borrowed from Kaliathura’s labor pool, was standing by the side of the bed, its penis erect. Her hazel eyes were closed and she was concentrating deeply on thoughts of a handsome young man, so she didn’t immediately notice the group’s arrival.

The young man had discussed his fantasies of being a pain-slave, so Tnnng’gk had made him strip and walk naked through the woods, searching for a switch that would satisfy her need to inflict- “Getting ready for the adolescent’s ritual tonight?” The High Priestess was a short, busty, big-hipped woman with goat’s horns and a set of breasts which subdivided bizarrely into ever-tinier nipples. Behind the High Priestess stood the High Priest and several other Gof’nn Hupadgh. These creatures were Shub-Niggurath’s chosen, ordinary humans who had died within one of her wombs and been reborn. Like all Gof’nn Hupadgh, their eyes were violet, their skins and hair jet black, the highlights on their skin ranging from dark to medium gray. Tnnng’gk hoped that one day she would join the Gof’nn Hupadgh, but she was not-quite-twenty, still a child as the City of Kaliathura counted things.

Tnnng’gk stopped playing with her nipples, which stood erect atop two breasts so small that they were close to invisible when she laid down, and looked up at the High Priestess. “I like to keep control of myself,” she said, “even during ritual. I haven’t forgotten that my mother was pregnant when she took initiation and everyone knows what happened to her.”

The High Priestess glanced over at the zombie. “I was wondering what you did about that female urge to have your pussy filled,” she said, lips pursed with mild amusement. “Now I know.”

“Tonight you won’t have the option of self-control.” The High Priest’s voice was stern, but he was also coming erect as he gazed down at Tnnng’gk’s young, lithe nakedness. “You are called to your initiation.” He licked his lips with his tongue, which was also his cock, or at least one of his cocks. Tnnng’gk had long wanted to enjoy a lengthy session of kissing him, but that hadn’t been possible due to the fact that she was not yet an initiate. “The Dark Young, Gk’rrhagn’wmg, has called for you.”

Tnnng’gk made her face go blank, hoping to conceal the sheer, stabbing terror of undergoing the same ritual which had caused her mother to gouge out her own eyes. “I guess we’d best be about it,” she said, trying to keep from screaming. No child born into the religion of Shub-Niggurath was foolish enough to show fear, and Tnnng’gk’s method of concealing her nerves was to allow her voice and manner to become vastly cool. “Stop being erect and return to the labor pool,” she told the zombie, then, ignoring her roiling gut, turned to the High Priestess. “Do I need to bring anything?”

“Just yourself.” It was a warm night and her religion celebrated sex and fertility, so Tnnng’k didn’t bother to dress.

* * *

Their first stop was the bathing pool, just off one of the streams that ran through Kaliathura. One of the Gof’nn Hupadgh, a woman several years older than Tnnng’gk, spent most of her time in the pool because the months inside Shub-Niggurath had turned her aquatic. The Goddess had changed the woman’s fingers and toes to webbed sets of tentacles and altered the woman’s lips, replacing them with a vertical set of tendrils more like snake’s tails than octopus arms, which interlocked to fully close the woman’s mouth. “Pleashe getsh ing da wata,” she said. “We needsh to baighe you.” The face-tentacles were longer than necessary to merely close this Gof’nn Hupadgh’s mouth, perhaps to help feel her way through the muddy depths. “I hazhe made shacred shoap forz you, wizh manzdrake oil anz monksh-hood sflowerz.”

Tnnng’gk, already naked, sat down on a rock just beneath the surface of the water. The Gof’nn Hupadgh raced around the pool in a quick, graceful circle, came up almost in Tnnng’gk’s lap, then rolled over so she was sitting next to Tnnng’gk. “You arz very preedee.” Her breasts and hips were small, like Tnnng’gk’s. “Mayz I kishu?”

Tnnng’gk didn’t have much interest in women, just enough to play at pleasure with a friend who was also aroused, but this Gof’nn Hupadgh had a classically beautiful face, all straight, symmetrical lines and elegant curves, droplets of clear water running down her perfect black cheeks, and Tnnng’gk found herself unable to resist. She put her hand at the back of the Gof’nn Hupadgh’s neck, and as the woman drew close Tnnng’gk discovered that her skin was slippery, like that of a fish. She shut her eyes to better enjoy the moment, but the Gof’nn Hupadgh didn’t close for a kiss immediately, instead caressing Tnnng’gk’s face with her slippery mouth tendrils. When their mouths did come together Tnnng’gk realized that the woman’s tongue was as slick as her tendrils, and she gasped as the slimy organ intertwined, so hot and slippery, with her own tongue.

The High Priestess made an impatient noise. “You can seduce her later. We have to be at the Inner Grove soon.”

Tnnng’gk pulled away and stared at the water-adapted Gof’nn Hupadgh. “You may consider me seduced,” she gasped, then the rest of the thought slipped out, unstoppable. “When I was kissing her, I wasn’t thinking of my mother.” The Gof’nn Hudadgh cupped her tentacled hands together – the snaky fingers were webbed together like the skirts of an octopus - and poured water over Tnnng’gk’s head. One of the Gof’nn Hupadgh put the Dark Tome into the The High Priestess’s hands, and she began reading verses Tnnng’gk had never heard before.

“ _In the beginning there was no time, no space,_ _no matter or energy, and Most Holy Azathoth, encompassing the surface of an eye, infinite pupils dancing against its skin, being the opposite of a hole, emitted only souls._ _The first universe was simple in nature: Everything was soul-stuff, squeezed into the two-dimensional skin which lay between Most Holy Azathoth and the void. To survive, soul ate soul. Those raised in a universe built of matter and energy find this supremely disturbing, a terrifying place described by mathematics which are the product of madness. The uneaten, broken droplets of soul-stuff formed The Nameless Mists_ _**,** _ _which by degrees became Azathoth’s mate.”_

As Tnnng’gk listened the aquatic Gof’nn Hupadgh washed her hair, then they both stood up and the Gof’nn Hupadgh rubbed every bit of Tnnng’gk’s outer surface with soap, her slippery tentacle-fingers sliding wetly across Tnnng’gk’s most intimate places. After being scolded by the High Priestess the woman was calmly efficient, but very gentle. If her finger-tentacles paid more than passing, slick notice to Tnnng’gk’s nipples or clitoris, she didn’t linger for more than an extra second or two, though she stared intently into Tnnng’gk’s eyes when she touched the intimate places, a face tendril pressed intently against her slippery tongue, which Tnnng’gk found charming.

The High Priestess frowned at Tnnng’gk. “I used to teach the math at this point, but we lost too many initiates. You can look it up later.” This thought, at least, was cheering. Tnnng’gk had two hobbies; esoteric studies and sex, and tomorrow she’d have access to those books Kaliathura denied to non-initiates, an excellent reason for not allowing fear to rule her.

After her bath the High Priest dried Tnnng’gk, then covered her body with a sacred oil that smelled of rotting meat and well-warmed pussy. Unfortunately, once Tnnng’gk had mentioned her mother she couldn’t stop thinking about the nightmare moment when, as a very young child, she’d discovered her mother lying on a broken daybed, her blood everywhere and her eyeballs on the floor, so while the touches from the water-adapted Gof’nn Hupadgh had felt very sweet and new, once she’d admitted her feelings the High Priest’s touch did nothing more than bring passing sensation to a terrified nipple or the quivering lips between Tnnng’gk’s legs – quivering with fear of ending up like her mother - and of course he was kissing her, the head of his mouth-penis rubbing gently against her tongue - and she wished, between episodes of terror, that she was not too frightened to enjoy it!

“I want a turn.” said the High Priestess. She put a languid hand on the back of Tnnng’gk’s neck and Tnnng’gk found out that Shub-Niggurath had divided the High Priestess’s tongue into several slender tentacles, this time with suckers, so the High Priestess's tongue was able to simultaneously envelope, caress, and suck on Tnnng’gk’s tongue, a sensation which temporarily made Tnnng’gk forget her terror, then the High Priestess stepped back and began to read again.

“ _In a durationless sequence of events, after receiving Azathoth’s blind, thoughtless attentions, part of The Nameless Mists coalesced into She who we call Shub-Niggurath, who knew the system in which soul thrived by eating soul as hideously cruel. She examined the mathematics of the First Universe and learned how to enter her grandfather - a great and terrible behavior as the Most Holy embodies emission, not reception - and adjusted Azathoth’s fundamental nature to emit the horrors of matter and energy as well as soul-stuff. Thus souls could adhere to matter and develop, as admixture with matter inhibits soul-devouring._

“ _Despite this change, many still prefer the old way of feeding, as soul-stuff contains information about its previous existence while matter and energy do not. Thus soul-stuff is superior to matter or energy even as it provides less power.”_

The Gof’nn Hupadgh all began chanting in the scale used by Azathoth’s servitor flautists, _“Ia, Ia, Shub-Niggurath, f’hxd va, g’hxd psak, bc’hxd ni-ihb, vorr’hxd sii, d’hxd vu,”_ the words repeated endlessly as the High Priest worked the sacred oil into Tnnng’gk’s short brown curls, stopping occasionally to share a three-sided kiss with the High Priestess and Tnnng’gk. The feel of both cock and tentacles in her mouth at the same time increased Tnnng’gk’s arousal to the point where her nipples tingled as if they were clitorises. If I go mad during the ritual, she thought, having half-way calmed herself by then, at least I’ll do so while well-fucked!

After the sacred oils had been massaged into her skin and hair, after she’d drunk a little of the oil and had it briefly applied to all her orifices, Tnnng’gk was led into the deep forest. From behind her came the words, _“Isf yoush sthart goinsh madsh, sthink ozh me! I shwill beesh heerz fora shucceshful ‘nishiate.”_ That was another good reason to endure the ceremony.

After walking nearly a mile, they stopped at a small stone circle atop a hillock and Tnnng’gk was told to lie on the mat and meditate. As she laid down, the High Priestess continued reading. _“Shub-Niggurath perversely entering the Most Holy Azathoth subverted the hierarchy of all things; the design by which Azathoth only emitted and the design by which soul ate soul. This was the First Sin._

“ _Worse, Shub-Niggurath forced the Most Holy to become pregnant and Azathoth involuntarily emitted Yog Sothoth, the All in One and One in All, who embodies both space and time. By this forced birth souls had time and place to develop their defenses against predators. Worse, the Most Holy Azathoth was made to carry its violation-child to birth, and live within that child for all eternity. All crimes of ancient hurt are echoes of this First Woe, and Shub-Niggurath, Yog Sothoth, and all their descendants remain unholy and accursed until their followers, one-and-all, have taken the vile sins of these disgusting Gods upon themselves.”_

That’s why we’re encouraged to fuck everyone, regardless of our feelings, Tnnng’gk realized as someone put a pillow under her head. So we can redeem the sins of Shub-Niggurath by accepting the emotions felt by Azathoth while being violated. The Gof’nn Hupadgh began chanting a new song, which translated as “All of me is as pure as my sex-organs at their moment of climax.” Tnnng’gk already knew that not every climax was pure, but this chant had a more relaxed feel than the previous one, so Tnnng’gk breathed deeply, hoping the chant would fill her.

* * *

Finally, having accepted the song and feeling both purified and relaxed, Tnnng’gk heard the drums start up. “I think they’re ready for us,” someone said.

They started walking again, and soon Tnnng’gk saw dozens of lanterns hanging from the branches of the sacred grove. She heard drums and voices, plus the occasional scream or whimper of pain. The screams were frightening at first, reminding Tnnng’gk of her mother’s screams when she’d realized that tearing out her eyes had not stopped the visions, then Tnnng’gk realized that the community’s pain-slaves were also present, and doubtless being pushed hard by their doms… Meanwhile, the Gof’nn Hupadgh continued chanting, now in time with the drums. Despite her meditations a little tendril of terror still wriggled in Tnnng’gk’s belly. At her worst moments Tnnng’gk was about to bolt, and stopped only because she thought of the water-adapted Gof’nn Hupadgh – so beautiful and slippery - or reminded herself that passing initiation would give her access to much more interesting books.

As they neared the entrance to the grove the High Priestess walked a little ahead of Tnnng’gk, then turned to face her. The Gof’nn Hupadgh stopped their chant then raised their voices in a single, stridulant, whoop. The drums stopped and there was not a sound anywhere in the forest.

The High Priestess opened the Dark Tome again. _“Those who still ate souls were appalled by the actions of Shub-Niggurath, so they exiled her, Yog Sothoth and all who agreed with the cause and consequences of the First Sin, who by this exile were called the Outer Gods. This decision resulted in the First War, an immense conflict which raged from one universe to another, even one multiverse to another, including attempts to kill Yog Sothoth itself, which would have obliterated space and time and collapsed the Omniverse to its original state. This was the First War, and all other wars are merely its children and echoes._

_In consequence, the Outer Gods were imprisoned by the Demonic faction of soul-eaters. The tentacles and globes which form the heart of Yog Sothoth were torn from the rest of his being and imprisoned. The brothers Cthulhu and Hastur were separated and confined in R’lyeh and Carcosa.”_

The High Priestess closed the Dark Tome and stared severely at Tnnng’gk. “Have you received the words of the book?”

Her own fears and the disturbing paragraphs about war and imprisonment came near unnerving Tnnng’gk. “I have,” she finally squeaked.

The Gof’nn Hugadgh howled and the drums started up once more. The High Priest and Priestess kissed Tnnng’gk again and she tasted pre-come from the High Priest’s mouth-cock. “Then be welcome in the circle of adults.” Then each stepped to one side and they gestured Tnnng’gk into the grove. The clearing’s outer tree-circle was of thorny acacia, and Tnnng’gk was careful as she passed, even as the branches snaked aside for her. The inner circle was of baobob trees, twisted barrel shapes and tortured branches twitching cacophonously against the sky.

In the grove’s center was the altar, an ancient baobob bent backwards like a sacrifice, which was surrounded by a circle of human flesh; all the pain-slaves of the community tied wrist to wrist in a circle, their heads facing the altar, upper and lower lips pierced through with acacia thorns so they could not speak. Their feet faced outwards, bound to heavy iron stakes. The earth beneath Tnnng’gks feet was healthy and fertile, centuries of leaf falling on top of leaf.

The High Priestess faced Tnnng’gk. “Wouldst thou greet the celebrants?” By now those attending the ritual, almost two-hundred people, were gathered in a second circle around the pain slaves. They were naked, the men hard, the women wet, and Tnnng’gk went widdernshins giving each person a quick, intimate touch; a long kiss, a few seconds attention to a hard cock, a quick finger along someone’s labia.

Meanwhile, the drums thundered onward and everyone in the circle chanted _“Ia, Ia, Shub-Niggurath, f’hxd va, g’hxd psak, bc’hxd ni-ihb, vorr’hxd sii, d’hxd vu,”_ This time it wasn’t a musical chant, but a low, demanding rumble, over and over again, timed against the lowest drums. Once in awhile someone hit a gong, the vibrations going straight to Tnnng’gk’s clit. When she was done with the whole circle and had kissed the first person again, the High Priest smiled. “The circle is complete.” Tnnng’gk looked around and saw the outer circle of people all joined hand-to-hand, the branches of the baobob trees all knotted together and the spaces between the trunks somehow closed.

The High Priestess looked at Tnnng’gk. “You know what comes next, right?”

"The four guardians?” Tnnng’gk found her eyes drawn to a particularly handsome pain-slave. He had a nice chest, and his cock, lying against his belly, was huge. None of the men in Tnnng’gk’s age-range were submissive, and Tnnng’gk realized that if she succeeded with her initiation she could join the Circle of Dominants and have handsome, obedient men to fulfill her fantasies.

The High Priest nodded solemnly “Yes.” One of the Gof’nn Hupadgh gave Tnnng’gk one of the lesser books and followed her with a lantern while Tnnng’gk summoned Cthugha, Dagon, Nyogtha and Ithaqua to guard the circle.

I am not my mother, Tnnng’gk thought as she called the four elements. She told herself that her mother had been pregnant at the time of her initiation, while Tnnng’gk was not pregnant. She reminded herself that her mother had not been born into the community of Shub-Niggurath, while Tnnng’gk had been raised in its ways since birth, and she didn’t merely have fears, but three fine rewards if she made it through the ritual.

Just after the last guardian came into the circle Tnnng’gk heard a thump. The sound was the impact of a Dark Young’s foot hitting the ground, and with that noise all other sound in the circle, the chanting, the drums, the whispers of the celebrants… _all stopped at once._ The first thump was obvious, but not particularly obtrusive. Against the silence that followed the second thump felt thunderous.

“We need to make the sacrifice immediately,” said the High Priestess. Two Gof’nn Hupadgh dragged a wild young she-goat, already tied and bleating piteously, from beneath the bent baobob tree that was the altar. The High Priest took the lesser book and put a tarnished silver dagger into Tnnng’gk’s hands.

Another thump filled the night.

“How do I do this?” whispered Tnnng’gk.

“With no flourishes,” said the High Priest. “When you see Gk’rrhagn’wmg at the edge of the trees you must invite it into the circle and request your initiation, then slaughter the goat as you’d slaughter any other animal.”

Another thump sounded and The High Priestess opened her book again. _“The cause of the Outer Gods seemed lost until the deific faction known as Vedics learned to make copies of souls and thus abandoned their alliance with the Elder Gods and Demonkind. Finally, Shub-Niggurath, who had stood aloof from battle, birthed the first Dark Young and together with her thousand children entered Hell, the supreme redoubt of Demonkind. There she freed those Outer Gods who had been damned, killed the Demon Lords of that time, and collapsed the near-infinite universes of the abyss into a mere six-hundred and sixty-six pseudo-planes._

_Then Shub-Niggurath besieged Heaven and the Elder Gods sued for a truce, which has endured for trillions of years across the birth, lives, and deaths of multiple generations of universes. The Outer Gods have been aestivating for aeons, recovering from days in battle and eternities in torment, but they begin to awaken now, and seek their old offices.”_

There came several more thumps, then the Dark Young was visible against the sky.

The thing that loomed in the darkness was a huge, squamous ball of randomly-placed maws resembling the mouths of lampreys, the gibbous body mounted on three stumpy, rugose legs. A dark forest of tentacles sprouted obscenely from the top of the creature, waving in the air above the circle’s border. The Dark Young’s odor was cthonic; burning rock and long-rotted flesh, new-spewed semen and fresh, fertile earth. Much worse than its appearance or odor was the fact that it had come for Tnnng’gk. _“Gk’rrhagn’wmg,”_ she cried, _“B’grma’vak Shub-Niggurath, Da-ba’vngk Azathoth, parnak-vadda ba-gark gwuum-fzla b’ma’ark wak-nagl pskar’yn b’mza v’rgak ub’ngk!”_

She grabbed the squirming she-goat’s beard and yanked the knife across the animal’s convulsing throat. Blood sprayed everywhere. The Gof’nn Hupadgh held the goat aloft by it’s back legs and let the blood spill all over Tnnng’gk’s naked body. She drew in her voice to complain, then the mixture of goat’s blood and sacred oil worked it’s way into her pores and orifices… suddenly every previous sex act in her life was nothing but foreplay and Tnnng’k’s physical urges completely obliterated all self-control. She needed fucking _right now_ and didn’t care who or what stuck it in!

The voice in Tnnng’gk’s head was male, calm, and almost ordinary. _“Will you allow my mating tentacles inside your mind, body, and soul?”_

“Oh yes,” gasped Tnnng’gk. Gk’rrhagn’wmg spun across the circle, an earthquake on stumpy legs, and suddenly Tnnng’gk was face-down across the bent Baobob tree at the circle’s center. Long, snake-like tentacles whipped around her arms and legs while another slimy tentacle rubbed hungrily against her mouth. Aroused beyond reason she opened that particular cock-hole and allowed the tentacle to slide down her throat. Somehow the Dark Young suppressed her gag-reflex and she felt the tentacle rubbing itself pre-orgasmically somewhere in the depths of her throat. A couple tiny tentacles wrapped around her nipples and every nerve in her chest started to tingle. Several slimy tendrils, all individually small, fought each other for access to her vagina, and the drippy, writhing tangle did amazing things to every part of her cunt. Then something big and well-lubricated began working it’s way into her ass, and Tnnng’gk did her best to stay still and enjoy the sensation, which was one of her favorites, though she was startled to realize that the tentacle was working its way far further into her intestines than any human cock could go. It must be wonderful, she thought, to have a penis that bends.

“ _I hope you’re not feeling overwhelmed,”_ said the almost-too-pleasant voice inside her head.

“Not at all,” thought Tnnng’gk, “I’m quite enjoying myself.”

“ _Maybe I’m not trying hard enough,”_ laughed the voice. Tnnng’gk, alarmed, opened her eyes to watch a whole cluster of tentacles explode around her head, then invade her eyes, ears, and nose. She was terrified, just for a moment, then realized that she was now perceiving reality through the Gk’rrhang’wmg’s senses, and feeling what it felt. Or more correctly, what _they_ felt. Each part of a human mind capable of an opposite impulse to some other thought was a distinct, whole being in the Dark Young, and those minds were chatting amiably about things Tnnng’gk didn’t understand, though she somehow knew that the mind speaking with her was a creation of the larger minds, reducing their more complex thoughts to something she could understand and accept. Outside of herself and the Dark Young the ritual had become an orgy, pain-slaves being beaten and used, couples, trios, and quartets screwing or licking or sucking each other. Meanwhile, Tnnng’gk’s own body was being very nicely fucked. The tentacles filling her vagina had gotten organized, or maybe they’d merged into a single tentacle which was shaped perfectly, and she could feel her wetness, mixed with slime from the tentacles, running down one leg as the pleasure built. The tentacle in her ass moved gently inward for a couple feet, then slowly out for the same distance, speeding up as she relaxed to accommodate it. The tentacle in her throat had pulled back and was rubbing insistently along her tongue. She could feel Gk’rrhagn’wmg’s alien ecstasies as well as her own, and knew that he felt her pleasure too.

Bizarre mystical connections attached Gk’rrhagn’wmg to the senses of the Gof’nn Hupadgh, who in turn observed the pleasures of the humans nearby, and Tnnng’gk suddenly sensed all the sex around her omnisciently, the subs, their feet untied, being fucked and slapped at once, the breasts being sucked, tongues touching, the cocks pushing in and out of pussies, mouths, and asses...

“ _How do you feel now?”_ asked the voice.

Tnnng’gk tried to say “It’s the most pleasure I’ve ever felt.” but she was far too aroused for words.

“ _You must remember,”_ came the calm voice, _“that this is only the means to an end.”_ Two of the minds within the Dark Young were chanting in some language from the lower planes, while another mind was calculating something having to do with – a spherical force which made things fall? - as it related to a free-floating soul composed of so many planck-datums wrapped in a particular number of – was the word ‘muons?’ Another mind was in complete, though subtle control of both the Gof’nn Hugadgh and the humans fucking around the altar, while the last mind was concentrating on some kind of gate or opening which would take Tnnng’gk to malformed places built of undescribable angles.

Finally everyone but Tnnng’gk and the Dark Young reached the moment of inevitability at once. Tnnng’gk could feel the pressure building as Gk’rrhagn’wmg’s minds all started concentrating on the same thing. _“They read you the book?”_

“Yes,” said Tnnng’gk.

 _“When my mother violated the Most Holy,”_ said the voice, sounding a little busy and tense, _“It left a scar on the all-emitting eye that is Azathoth. That’s where you’re going.”_  
  
“A scar?” How could anyone travel to a scar?

“THE _Scar,”_ said the Dark Young, _“The Scar on the Eye of God.”_

Tnnng’gk, though entangled in the pleasures of two-hundred people, shuddered with horripilations at those words, then via Gk’rrhagn’wmg’s senses felt the simultaneous arrival of everyone’s climax at once, viewing those orgasms with multiple, inhuman senses, but also _feeling_ them; the dark, humiliated horror of a pain-slave’s heaving eruption, the gentle, floating pleasure of a woman receiving cunnilingus, all the sexual energy draining into the Dark Young and filling it arcane, primordial power. _“I can’t hold back!”_ Gk’rrhagn’wmg gentle voice had somehow gone monstrous, sounding eldritch and hollow inside her head.

Tnnng’gk felt her own pleasure increase intolerably, then explode, a gigantic, shattering pulse which blasted her out of her body. Looking down, she saw the world rushing away from her, flat plane turning into giant flat circle turning into a tiny blue-green sphere, then she rushed past the two moons. She passed another planet hours later, this one dark red, with narrow rivers and tiny oceans. Eventually she realized that the sun was getting smaller… She died then, she knew it, going cold and hard as she swung past yet another planet, this one huge, purple and covered in varicolored clouds, moving faster each time she passed something. Finally the sun turned into a point of light and she was drifting in the infinite void.

It was centuries before she passed anything larger than a grain of sand, then she whipped around a star, small, red and utterly unlike the sun which lit her own planet, then past two little worlds, then she froze and hardened again, moving ever faster. Over the course of a perceived eternity she passed through countless star systems, sure her body had rotted away long ago, been buried and dissolved, grown into bushes, trees and flowers, the cycle of birth and death growing from a series of single events to a low rumble, then a shrieking cosmic howl as her spirit accelerated madly. Tnnng’gk had been taught that she was a tiny mote in an endless, uncaring cosmos and learned the math which demonstrated that the while Omniverse was infinite, she was not, but she hadn’t really felt it.

Now she felt it. Her home planet had doubtless crumbled to dust aeons ago, and she’d only completed a tiny fraction of her journey.

Infinity was boring, except when it was maddening. Every few-thousand years a star exploded, a year’s worth of twinkling, then stillness. She could travel through a thousand solar-systems without sensing any kind of life. The experience would have driven her mad except that once in a great while she felt the tiniest, far away illusion of slimy, delightful tentacles caressing her.

Meanwhile, stars clustered into galaxies, galaxies into chaotic clusters, clusters into single points of light...

Eventually, the universe grew darker instead of getting lighter as happened near a sun. It required centuries to figure out the math, but Tnnnn’gk had nothing else to do, and finally understood that a huge star had exploded nearby. The explosion had pushed the material of the star together so hard that the force Gk’rrhagn’wmg had considered, the one which pulled things inward, had become overwhelming, then over time that black star had sucked all nearby matter into itself. This vast, four-dimensional pit had grown slowly, the force-that-pulls increasing in power until it broke space and time, then drew whatever it touched into a universe with different natural laws than Tnnng’gk had ever imagined.

Tnnng’gk started hearing screams. The Black Star had captured a small sun which had planets, and one of the planets had inhabitants. The captured sun circled the Black Star woundedly, struggling against the force-that-pulls, which drew a long, parasitic ribbon of fire from the captured sun, pulling it into the Black Star, and crushing it into lightless oblivion. Every thousand years or so the life-bearing planet passed through this flaming ribbon, and despite the most clever engineering the inhabitants of the planet could manage something always burned. If you were magically sensitive like Tnnng’gk, you could hear the world’s spirit screaming.

The shrieks continued for aeons, because once close to the Black Star the force-that-pulls became so powerful it affected time, so the single pained gasp and horrified energies a creature might release before it exploded from the heat could last a thousand years.

Was there anything, Tnnng’gk wondered, which might help the tortured planet? She’d had a little mystical training so she extended her senses as best she could, discovering that there was nothing nearby with anything resembling the necessary power to help, only a few demons periodically feeding on the pain.

Tnnng’gk thought she’d be pulled into the Black Star and crushed mercilessly with an aeon-long scream of her own, then she realized that Gk’rrhagn’wmg had calculated very carefully, and instead she would pass through the Black Star by traversing a hole ripped into another universe by the force-that-pulls.

The way the force-that-pulls stretched time meant Tnnng’gk would hear screams from the doomed world for fifty-two million years. That thought alone nearly drove her mad, but then she felt it, the second pulsation of the gigantic orgasm which had thrust her into the deep. When she realized that her body wasn’t dead and her world hadn’t crumbled she began to cry, and sobbed her disembodied relief for so many millions of years that she didn’t recover until she whipped through the heart of the Black Star and exploded into a new universe just as the third pulsation hit.

Finally she passed through another Black Star, this one surrounded by shattered fragments of dead gods. Like the last Black Star, this one too stretched time, and when the fourth pulsation of the primal orgasmic energies Tnnng’gk rode exploded through her consciousness the sensation lasted for aeons. Sometimes her mind slowed to a pleasure-basking, tentacle-fetishizing crawl and she didn’t think a single word for aeons.

Finally she exited one of the Black stars into a very different place. Enormous translucent bags containing at least one dimension of time and two dimensions of space sped past her, stuffed full with galaxies.

That was when she heard the shrieking madness of too many incoherent flutes, each playing a different, cacophonic melody, and knew she had arrived. Ahead of her was the Most Holy, a cyclopean all-emitting eye composed of infinite pupils buzzing against each other like a swarm of angry bees, each tremulous opening spewing souls, universes and non-Euclidean blobs of inconceivable esoterica into the void. Then she saw it, a sort of cataract no buzzing pupil could penetrate. The fifth pulsation hit and Tnnng’gk slammed through The Scar on the Eye of God into a single, white sphere inhabited by a crying, naked boy, beaten, bruised and bleeding from between his legs. His blind eyes pointed in two different directions and both eyes were mad.

“No! You!” The boy’s rejection was explosive, and as the sixth pulsation of pleasure struck she exploded out one of the infinite, blind pupils fighting for access to the surface of God’s eye. Tnnng’gk was a big bag of stars, composed of six temporal and two spatial dimensions, and she’d deliberately been built to fall apart, infected energies randomly fizzling out instead of reinforcing each other, pushing rather than pulling. Forward thought collided agonizingly with sideways and backwards thoughts along multi-dimensional timelines. Stars poured like pus from Tnnng’gk’s unclosable wounds and dissolved pathetically into the energy-goo surrounding the Most Holy Azathoth, each star a drop of blood, each drop of blood a bone, each bone a mote of dust, all crumbling into the broken and uncaring aether while servitor-flautists played mocking, schizophrenic melodies behind her. After a billion crumbling years there was almost nothing left. The broken mote of an insignificant soul which survived reoriented its shattered thoughts along a single dimension of time and limped across the multiverse, following the pulsations of its body’s pleasure, and finally arrived home a trillion years later.

* * *

Tnnng’gk woke slowly, languid and tangled in the forest of Gk’rrhagn’wmg’s tentacles. Her butt was scratchy and her clitoris felt… not painful exactly, but utterly opposed to further stimulation. Her muscles were sore and her mouth was very dry. Other than that... everything was there. Feelings, memories, attitudes, thoughts and dreams were all present, no odd ideas about the nature of things… everything unchanged except that the parochial perspective of a child was gone forever. Tnnng’gk opened her eyes and the High Priest stood on tip-toes to pass her a mug of tea. She swished the liquid around her mouth, then swallowed. The people outside the circle were fucking or eating as they pleased, and Tnnng’gk suddenly realized that she was ravenous.

The High Priestess opened her book. _“Though she was victorious in battle, Shub-Niggurath’s rebellion taints all who follow her. They are as extensions of their goddess’s policy, participants in the First Sin, father-violators, forcers of parenthood upon He That They Raped. They are system-destroyers and disrupters of natural order; creators and ordainers of all evil, including the horrors of time, space, matter and energy, destroyers of the perfect design ordained by the Most Holy Azathoth. All this is true,”_ the High Priestess paused, then smiled knowingly, _“but without Shub-Niggurath, there would be no time, no space, no matter and no energy, nothing but soul devouring soul without ceasing. Thus we worship at her altar and ever strive to redeem her sins.”_

The High Priestess closed the Black Tome. “Do you understand the words of the book?”

“Intimately,” said Tnnng’gk.

“Good.” The High Priestess handed the book to one of the Gof’nn Hupadgh. “Welcome to adulthood. Don’t forget to pay your taxes.”

The High Priest frowned. “I’ll check on you in a few days, just to make sure you aren’t gibbering. Meanwhile, get something to eat.”

“ _So,”_ came the Dark Young’s voice inside Tnnng’gk head, _“how did_ that _make you feel?”_

“It was horrible and boring and glorious all at once,” thought Tnnng’gk, “and it made me think a lot about math! You were doing calculations about that force-that-pulls, so I adapted your equations and figured how how Black Stars work. Can we do it again tomorrow night?”

A wave of pleased surprise washed over Tnnng’gk. _“We could certainly discuss it,”_ said Gk’rrhagn’wmg, the Dark Young’s mind-voice thoughtful. A green eye bigger than Tnnng’gk’s head pushed through the forest of tentacles and turned sideways to study her. _“_ _B_ _y any chance do you have a regular lover?”_

Tnnng’gk caressed one of the tentacles wrapped around her torso. “Not currently,” she thought, “but we could discuss that too.”

_Fin - at least for now._

**Author's Note:**

> For the record I should note that the phrase "The Scar on the Eye of God" comes from my son, who first uttered it as we were working together at a Lovecraft-themed haunted house: "You are a scar on the eye of God. Give up your pain through the ritual of sacrifice!"
> 
> January 6th, 2021 - Made three minor edits.


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